Councillors in Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh have backed plans that could require planning permission before more permanent homes are converted into short-term holiday accommodation.
The area committee voted to recommend including the ward in a proposed Highland Rural Short-Term Let Control Area following a six-week public consultation.
Of the 98 respondents who lived in the area, 50 supported the proposal and 40 opposed it. The remaining respondents did not express a clear preference.
The recommendation will now go to Highland Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee, which is expected to decide later this year whether the wider rural control area should be submitted to Scottish ministers for approval.
The proposal is intended to give the council greater oversight of future conversions of homes into secondary short-term lets in communities facing housing pressure.
It would not ban holiday accommodation or close existing lawful businesses.
What Would The Controls Do?
Within a designated control area, planning permission is normally required before a residential property that is not the owner’s main home can be changed into a short-term let.
Applications would be considered through the planning system, allowing the council to weigh the loss of residential accommodation against tourism, economic and local circumstances.
The rules would apply to future changes of use.
Existing lawful short-term lets, second homes, empty properties and purpose-built holiday accommodation would not automatically be affected.
This means the proposal is chiefly designed to manage further growth rather than return existing holiday properties to permanent residential use.
Short-term-let licensing would continue to operate separately. Licensing principally covers matters such as safety and operating standards, while control areas use planning law to manage concentrations of secondary lets.
Long-Running Housing Pressure
The debate over holiday accommodation in Wester Ross and Lochalsh predates the current short-term-let system.
Highland Council housing records from the middle of the previous decade showed that second and holiday homes accounted for 17.2% of housing in Skye and Lochalsh and 15.5% in West Ross.
In some individual communities, the proportion was more than 40%.
Those figures included second homes and holiday properties rather than only licensed short-term lets, but they show that a substantial share of the local housing stock had already been removed from ordinary residential use before the present control-area proposal.
More recent council figures indicate that licensed short-term lets account for approximately 11% of potential dwellings in the Ross and Cromarty West housing market area.
In the mainland part of the Skye and Lochalsh housing market area, the figure is about 17%.
The council has also found that 25 of the 220 homes completed across Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh over a five-year period later became licensed short-term lets.
That finding has added to concern that new construction does not always produce a lasting increase in the number of homes available to local residents.
Tourism And Housing
Tourism is a major part of the economy across Wester Ross and Lochalsh, supporting accommodation providers, cafés, restaurants, visitor attractions and other businesses.
Short-term lets can provide income for property owners and increase the number of places available to visitors.
At the same time, residents and employers have raised concerns about the availability and cost of permanent housing.
Councillor Liz Kraft, co-chair of the area committee, said communities had repeatedly warned that the growth of short-term lets was affecting the supply of homes for people wishing to live permanently in the area.
She said the council had to consider measures that could ease pressure on the housing market and allow more people to live and work locally.
The consultation result shows that opinion remains divided.
Support came from a narrow majority of respondents rather than an overwhelming local consensus. The 98 responses also represent a small, self-selecting group rather than a formal vote of the wider population.
The task facing councillors is therefore to balance the economic importance of tourism with the need to retain enough homes for workers, families and older residents.
Highland’s Earlier Control Area
Highland Council already has experience of operating this type of planning control.
Badenoch and Strathspey became a designated short-term-let control area on 4 March 2024, becoming the second such area in Scotland after Edinburgh.
Edinburgh’s city-wide control area came into force in September 2022.
Highland Council says early evidence from Badenoch and Strathspey suggests the measure has slowed the growth of secondary short-term lets.
The authority has not claimed that the policy has resolved local housing shortages, and the control area does not prevent short-term-let applications from being approved.
It does, however, ensure that proposed conversions pass through the planning system before they can proceed.
By May 2026, the council said 330 short-term-let planning applications had been received in Badenoch and Strathspey since the control arrangements began.
The experience there will be relevant as councillors decide whether similar controls should cover a much larger part of rural Highland.
Wider Highland Proposal
The Wester Ross decision forms part of a broader proposal for a Highland Rural Short-Term Let Control Area.
The area consulted upon includes parts of Wester Ross, Lochalsh, Skye, Lochaber, Sutherland, Aird and Loch Ness, and other communities in the north and west Highlands.
A separate control area has also been proposed for Inverness.
Consultations on both plans ran from 12 May until 23 June 2026. Responses are being considered by the relevant area committees before the Economy and Infrastructure Committee makes a final decision.
If the committee supports the rural proposal, Scottish ministers would still have to approve its designation.
Planning permission would then be required for qualifying future conversions within the control area.
The council would still need to judge each application on its individual merits rather than applying an automatic prohibition.
The proposal cannot by itself build affordable homes, reduce construction costs or resolve shortages of land, infrastructure and skilled labour.
It could, however, give the council greater control over how many additional homes leave permanent residential use in communities where the housing stock is already under pressure.
For Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh, the immediate decision is therefore narrower than the wider dispute over tourism and housing.
Councillors are not deciding whether holiday lets should continue.
They are deciding whether the future conversion of homes into holiday accommodation should happen automatically, or only after the effect on the local community has been considered through the planning system.
Sources
Highland Council — Wester Ross, Strathpeffer And Lochalsh Committee Backs Short-Term Let Controls And Approves Over £126,000 For Community Regeneration Projects
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/17396/wester-ross-strathpeffer-and-lochalsh-committee-backs-short-term-let-controls-and-approves-over-126-000-for-community-regeneration-projects
Highland Council — Proposed Future Short-Term Let Control Areas
https://www.highland.gov.uk/short-term-lets/short-term-let-control-areas/4
Highland Council — What Is A Short-Term Let Control Area?
https://www.highland.gov.uk/short-term-lets/short-term-let-control-areas
Highland Council — Highland-Wide Local Development Plan Monitoring Statement
https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/file/2236/hwldp2-monitoring-statement
Highland Council — Local Housing Strategy
https://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/71643/item_8_local_housing_strategy
Highland Council — Progress Welcomed For Badenoch And Strathspey Short-Term Let Control Area
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/17227/progress-welcomed-for-badenoch-and-strathspey-short-term-let-control-area
Highland Council — Control Areas In Highland
https://www.highland.gov.uk/short-term-lets/short-term-let-control-areas/3
Highland Council — Views Sought On Proposals To Introduce Short-Term Let Control Areas In Highland
https://www.highland.gov.uk/news/article/17240/views-sought-on-proposals-to-introduce-short-term-let-control-areas-in-highland
Highland Council — Short-Term Let Control Areas Consultation FAQs, May 2026
https://consult.highland.gov.uk/kseapi/public/keyplan/events/8DCFD147-5EBB-48D0-8498-524C0DC4F05E/supportingfiles/98179/content
Scottish Government — Short-Term Lets: Regulation Information
https://www.gov.scot/publications/short-term-lets/
Scottish Government — Short-Term Let Licensing Implementation Update Report 2024
https://www.gov.scot/publications/short-term-licensing-implementation-update-report-2024/
Scottish Government — Short-Term Lets: Business And Regulatory Impact Assessment
https://www.gov.scot/publications/short-term-lets-business-regulatory-impact-assessment/
